Edie Sedgwick

by Laura Carrozza

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Edie Sedgwick was simply Edie: the centre toward which people’s attention naturally gravitated; she was the powerful smile able to shatter the heart of anybody who came across her. Born into a rich Californian family, her life was marked by bereavement and grief due to the premature death of her two brothers and by the deeply conflicted relationship with her father who admitted being the source of the distress experienced by his children. Edie showed an early aptitude for the show biz. It soon became clear that Cambridge stages, in Massachusetts where she studies art at Harvard were too limited for her talent and that the only scene fit enough to complement her aura was that of New York. Edie moved there in 1964 where she met the man with whom she shared part her life story: Andy Warhol. They met in January 1965 at producer Lester Persky’s apartment and it was fascination at first sight:

Edie became the muse and the protagonist of the pop-art legend and the undisputable queen of The Factory. On that year the two developed a symbiotic relationship: together they produced independent movies, attended the coolest and most influential parties, set trends in fashion and the arts as well as becoming role models of the 60’s underground scene, so much so that even their fashion style blended and harmonized resulting in two individuals aesthetically similar and yet profoundly different. That was also the period that earned her the cover of Life and Vogue gaining definite recognition from the fashion system. Her style started developing the distinguishing traits of her trademark look: black tight, most often in a matt variety, a leotard paired with a cardigan or a mini-dress with the signature chandelier earrings as the only accessories. If in previous years her style of dress had been influenced by her mother, once in New York Edie broke free from family ties and started indulging her fashion whims voicing her personality through clothes. Once her unique fashion sense had fully developed, she was ready to become a fashion icon to Andy Warhol himself who wished he had her same qualities. The infatuation with the glossy world of The Factory was destined to be short-lived for basically two reasons: the fickle personality of the American artist but most of all the news thatBob Dylan,

perhaps the only man she truly loved, had got married in a secret ceremony – a fact that caused her to become depressed and more deeply dependent on the use of drugs and alcohol. That marked the beginning of her decline: due to her eating disorder her health started deteriorating, her father passed away and money became less and less. On November, 16th 1971, Edie was found dead by her husband, a young student whom she had married a few months before: the cause of her death – a probable overdose of barbiturates – was ruled as "undetermined/accident/suicide". What remains is her image in people’s mind: the Femme Fatale protagonist of the iconic song by the Velvet Undeground which is an ode to her and the timeless charm of her eyes thick with make-up paired with her ability to set trends and fashion, and not be trapped in them, remaining always and forever simply Edie.